Over the course of the last few months, it’s fair to say that nothing about our work has been status quo. Abnormality has an interesting way of changing our perspectives on the way that we do our work as Student Affairs and Higher Education professionals. Many of us have been doing student centric work from the comfort, or in some cases discomfort, of our make-shift home offices. In recent weeks, I’ve sat in my tiny room, having incredibly meaningful and developmental conversations with students about race, sexual misconduct, privilege, and more. We all know that these conversations aren’t easy, but they’re the conversations that drive us to do the work that we do, no matter the medium.
I am a very “by the book” individual, reviewing and following precedent, bylaws, you name it. However, “the book” is one that we cannot make our students purchase this semester. Although resilient, our students may experience struggles that they have not faced before. As staff, or the “adults” these students look up to, we are also facing new challenges. During these challenging times, I am comforted to know that there is room for flexibility in the way we offer our services, advice, and mentorship to students, in the way we support our students. Truthfully, there always has been. I’m also reminded of our faculty colleagues when reading articles such as this, and how the messaging of this article can translate to our work - https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/08/19/it%E2%80%99s-compassion-not-capitulation-ask-less-students-amid-disruption-opinion.
While we may have never attended a professional development workshop on supporting students through pandemics - until March, of course – we are trained to be nurturing, compassionate, empathetic individuals. This semester, when we can’t rely on precedent, lean on this training and lean on each other.